The Doppleganger Diaries
by Green-Eyed-Wolf9324
Summary: When Elena makes it brutally clear that she will never return her feelings for Damon, he takes off to a club in the town over where he meets out-of-place Amy White who looks exactly like Elena Gilbert. When it becomes evident that Amy is Elena's twin, she is kept in Mystic Falls by Damon, who slowly begins caring for her as he keeps her safe. Warning: spanking in later chap
1. The Doppleganger

Chapter One:

The club was crowded, hot, and loud. Exactly what Damon Salvatore was looking for. He slipped into the crowd, gliding between the drunk, sweaty women as easily as though he were a knife cutting through butter. The music pounded in his sensitive ears, along with the hearts of everyone in the club. Some were slow, some were fast. Some, should probably find their way to the nearest hospital, but he wasn't going to worry about that. He sat down at the bar and ordered a whiskey on the rocks, leaning with his back against the bar so that he could watch the crowd in front of him.

It was like fish in a barrel. So many to choose from, all in the same place. It was almost like his thoughts of Elena were gone already. Almost.

His drink arrived and he drank it all in one gulp, motioning to the bartender for a second. He should have brought his own bottle on his way to the club. He wasn't nearly tipsy enough to be content—or to deal with the unattractive drunk girl that slid up against him, putting her lips against his ear as she whispered in what she probably though was a seductive tone,

"How is it possible that someone as attractive as you, is here alone?"

Damon grimaced inwardly before turning to her saying, "How is it possible that someone as unattractive as you would even bother coming up to someone as attractive as me?" then before she could respond, dilated his pupils as he compelled her and said, "Go. Dance until you can't dance anymore."

The girl nodded and turned around, heading straight for the dance floor where she began swaying her hips and waving her arms to the music. Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head as he let out an irritated breath.

His second drink arrived and he gulped that one down as well. The bar tender raised an eyebrow at him, but poured another without Damon having to say anything. Turning back around to face the bar, Damon sat on a stool, slowly sipping his drink as he listened to what was around him.

"It's like he doesn't even appreciate me, Sarah. I do everything for him. I gave him everything!" A girl a few stools down was complaining to the girl next to her. "I'll show him, though. He'll see what he's missing out on."

Damon closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face, changing channels.

"My dealer said only take one. They're pretty strong, so we should be fine to last all night." A small group of girls were huddled in the back corner, glancing over their shoulders as they spoke.

Was there really nothing of interest at this club, Damon wondered as he skipped through multiple different conversations. Maybe he should just grab a girl and go. Bite her back by the dumpster and leave her for the drunks to find.

If only Elena knew what Damon was thinking—planning. She would be on one of her "higher-than-thou" trips, telling him what a terrible person he was for even thinking of doing something like that. He could almost hear her now.

"They're people, Damon! Not animals for you to slaughter for your own personal enjoyment!"

No, Damon told himself firmly, pushing Elena's voice out of his head. The whole reason he was here, was to forget about Elena. She had made it clear she would never feel anything for him, the way he did for her. Rather rudely, he might add.

"You shouldn't be here." Her voice said. Damon sipped at his drink again, trying to push the voice out. "I mean it." Whatever, Elena, Damon thought.

"We shouldn't be here." The voice persisted.

Damon paused, his drink halfway from his mouth to the bar.

"This is dangerous, we could get caught."

That definitely was not coming from his imagination.

Damon put his drink down, looking wildly around the club. That was Elena's voice. How could Elena be in the club? Damon stood up, following the sounds of the voice.

"I'm not doing this, I don't want to be here anymore-"

Damon pushed through the crowd until he found her. Elena was standing by the bathroom, talking to a girl whose back was turned to him. Anger bubbled up inside of him. What was she doing here? Did Stefan even know she was here? This was no place for someone like her to be without protection.

Before thinking, Damon stalked over to her and pushed the other girl out of the way and put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to face him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. He almost wanted to ask her why she couldn't just let him party alone, in peace. Why did she have to follow him there? How did she even know about this club? But what she was doing there, was a more pressing matter.

Elena gasped and looked at him through terrified eyes, before stammering, "Wh-who are you?"

"Nice try," Damon snapped, narrowing his eyes. "You really have no concern for your own safety, do you, Elena?" Boy, was he getting tired of having to play prince charming, running to save her from everything in the world, including herself.

"Elena?" she asked, backing against the wall, her eyes flicking around for an escape route. "Look, whoever you are, you have the wrong person. I'm not Elena. So p-please, get the hell away." She turned back to her friend and said urgently, "Katie, let's go."

Damon put his hand on the wall right by her face, stopping her from moving. She jumped, shaking. He leaned in close so that his nose was brushing against her neck. He could feel her skin shivering as she stood stalk still while he breathed in her scent.

Damon pulled back, narrowing his eyes at her. That girl, was not Elena. And she sure as hell wasn't Katherine. He would know Katherine from miles away.

"Who are you?" He demanded, forcing her wide, brown eyes to stare into his steely blue ones.

"L-look, we don't want any trouble." She stammered, shrinking below his gaze. Damon leaned in, dilating his pupils.

"Who. Are. You." He said slowly. The girl's face relaxed a little under his compulsion.

"My name is Amelia White. My friends call me Amy."

"Alright, Amy. Why don't you come with me?" Amy began to nod, but her friend stepped in front of her. She had fair, blond hair that was done in loose curls and pinned at the sides. If she was trying to look older and more mature, it didn't' really work. Her round, baby face seemed even younger to him, and contrasted the dark make-up that she wore on it.

"I don't know who you think you are, but she is not going anywhere with you."

"You can go home and forget you even came here tonight." Damon told her. The girl nodded.

"Yes. I'll go home." She agreed, then turned and walked towards the exit. Damon returned his focus back to the Elena doppelgänger in front of him.

"Follow me." He said, then took her hand and led her out to his car, where he strapped her into the passenger seat before getting into his. He turned the ignition on and squealed the tires as he fish tailed out of the parking lot.

Amy said nothing beside him, her fear still real through his compulsion. She had no idea who this guy was, or who Elena was. The only reason she was at the club was because her friend Katie convinced her to use a fake ID that she got so they could go out before school began after the weekend.

During the silence, there were a thousand thoughts racing through Damon's head. It was strange enough that there was one Katherine look-a-like, but how was it possible for there to be two?

"How old are you?" Damon asked.

"Please, let me go home." Amy replied, her eyes tearing up. "I promise I won't tell anyone, just let me go home!"

"Tell me how old you are."

"Please-"

"Tell me!" Damon roared, without taking his eyes off the road. Amy jumped in her seat.

"I'm seventeen. Where are you taking me?" She tried to look outside as the world whizzed by, but in the dark, it was hard to really know where they were heading.

"When is your birthday?" Damon ignored her question.

"What does it matter?"

"It matters. Tell me your birthday."

Amy burst into tears, burying her face in her hands.

"Please! Don't hurt me!"

"If you tell me your birthday, I won't have to." Damon replied through gritted teeth.

"June twenty second, nineteen ninety two." Amy sobbed. "I don't have money, so if you want a ransom, I can't pay it! And I don't have any family that cares enough to-"

"If you don't stop talking, I'm going to pull this car over. If I have to pull this car over, you're not going to be very happy."

Amy squeaked and moved towards the door, further away from Damon, but didn't say anything. Damon kept his gaze on the road, not trusting himself to look at the girl sitting beside him.

~ . ~

Forty minutes later, Damon pulled up in front of his house. He parked the car, turning it off. Amy was still sitting quietly beside him, except for the occasional sniffle. Her mascara was running down her face, he could see it through the dark, and dripping onto her upper thighs which were barely covered by her short skirt.

Damon loved seeing girls in the club wearing those kind of clothes, but on this girl, this Elena-look-a-like, he did not. He wanted to hand her a pair of pants and say, for the love of god, cover yourself up and have some decency. But he didn't.

Her long, brown hair, exactly like Elena's, was falling out of its hair clip. She looked completely disheveled, not at all like she had spent a good amount of time readying herself for a night at the clubs.

"I'm going to get out of the car, and come to your side and let you out. If you try to run, you will not like what happens." Damon leaned over the console and spoke directly to her. "Do I make myself clear?"

Amy nodded. She was terrified and Damon knew it. This girl was not confrontational like Elena was. She was not a fighter at all. In fact, it was almost like she had already given up. This girl, was the complete opposite of Elena. This girl was vulnerable.

Damon slid out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. Amy had unbuckled herself, so when he opened the door she slipped out quickly, taking off down the driveway. Damon watched her run, letting out an irritated sigh before quickly catching up to her and tossing her over his shoulder.

"No!" Amy yelled, pounding on his back. "Help! Please, someone!"

"I'm getting bored of your pathetic crying." Damon announced, before sauntering into the house and slamming the door shut behind him. He stood Amy on the ground in front of him, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I'm _not _going to hurt you." He said firmly to her.

"Then what do you want with me?" she asked in return, her voice small.

"Damon?"

Damon looked over Amy's head. Stefan was standing in the doorway to the living room, arms crossed with a confused expression on his face.

"Elena? I thought you went home."

Amy looked from Damon, to Stefan, then back to Damon.

"Why is everyone calling me Elena?" She asked, her voice shaking. "I'm not Elena, I don't know who you're talking about! Just let me go home!" she moved to push past Damon, but he put both his hands on her shoulders once more and held her firmly in place.

"Ah, good evening, brother." Damon said. "May I introduce my new friend? Her name is Amy White."

~ . ~

A large fire crackled in the fire place, casting an orange glow across Amy's face as she sat on the couch wrapped in an afghan blanket with a hot chocolate in her hands. If this was the worst of being kidnapped, maybe it wasn't so bad after all. The other brother, Stefan, seemed hospitable at least. He offered her a drink and a blanket, and asked if she was comfortable.

This house was much larger than any of the other houses she had grown up in. Nicer, too. There were expensive looking throw rugs on the ground, ancient looking artifacts on end tables, and old, faded paintings on the walls. The couch that she sat on was soft, yet firm at the same time, like it hadn't had much use out of it.

Damon and Stefan, sat across from her on the other identical couch, staring intently. Though they did look like brothers, Amy had never seen two brothers that looked similar, yet so different. Damon had dark hair, with bright, stunningly blue eyes. Stefan, on the other hand, had lighter hair, like a brown color, rather than black, and his eyes were the color of emeralds.

The sight of them alone was almost enough to terrify Amy, yet entrance her at the same time.

"I swear, I'm not Elena." She said after moment, for the hundredth time. "I don't know who Elena is."

"We know," Stefan said, holding a calming hand out. He seemed much more practical than Damon, as if he was more curious to find out who she was, rather than demanding to know. "We know you're not Elena."

"Then why are you keeping me here?"

The two brothers looked at each other as though silently communicating to one another, when there was a ring at the door. They both looked towards the front door, then back to Amy.

"What?" She asked nervously. "Who is that?"

"That," Damon said as he stood up, "Is Elena." He made his way out of the room to the front door. Amy glanced over at Stefan who looked uneasy and stood up from the couch.

"-really couldn't wait until tomorrow, Damon?" Amy heard the voice of a female in the hall.

"Trust me, Elena, it couldn't." Damon replied, then appeared in the doorway. He held his arm out towards Amy, when the girl entered beside him. "Elena, meet Amy."

Amy dropped her mug on the ground, jumping up from the couch and backing away towards the fire until she couldn't go any further. The girl in the doorway was the mirror image of herself. Even the shocked look on her face seemed to match exactly the way she felt.

"What is this? What's going on?" Amy demanded, her voice shaking as violently as her voice.

"Yes, Damon. What _is _going on?" Elena asked, her tone sounding less frightened than Amy's, yet curious and disbelieving.

~ . ~

"She never mentioned a sister."

"You mean twin." Damon corrected. Elena glared at him from across the couch.

"Isobel said that she had me and left me on the door step of the Gilberts. If I had a sister, why didn't she leave her with me?"

"That's a good question. One you might want to ask her." Damon insisted.

"It was hard enough getting a hold of her the first time, Damon. It could take me days or weeks to get a hold of her again."

"Elena, this isn't something we can ignore. If Amy really is your sister, then we need to know. This adds a whole new layer to things, a whole new _complicated _layer."

"How? Damon, _you_ dragged her here. _You_ are the only one making complications. I mean, this poor girl's whole life is probably going to be screwed up forever because of what you did. You can't just drag random people into Mystic Falls. Nothing good ever comes." Her face went stony as she remembered all the bad things that had happened over the past year.

"Elena, if she is anything like you, she needs to be protected. If she really is your sister, she _needs_ protection." Damon straightened up from where he was leaning against the wall, sauntering over to Elena slowly. "What's the matter, Elena? Afraid you're going to be replaced?"

"Grow up, Damon." Elena rolled her eyes. "I just can't believe you did this. I mean, really? You could have at least thought it through, or talked to us before you brought her here."

"So you'll call your mom, then?" Damon asked, his eyes sparkling knowingly.

"I'll call her tomorrow. But I'm not promising anything. For all I know, she could be dead." Elena responded defeated. "What are you going to do with Amy until then? You can't just keep her under compulsion until Isobel gets back to me. Who knows how long it could be."

"I'll keep her here. Don't worry," Damon held his hand up as Elena began to object. "I'll be nice to her. I'll make sure she's safe until we figure out what's going on."

Elena regarded Damon carefully. Damon was a lot of things—cruel, sadistic, manipulative—but he never lied to her. She knew she could trust him to keep her safe. However in Damon's book, 'safe' might not constitute as 'comfortable' and 'happy'.

"_Be nice. _I'm going home." Elena announced. "I'm going to _try _to comprehend everything that just happened. I'll be back tomorrow."

"I'll walk you to your car." Stefan offered, getting up from the couch. He hadn't said much during the whole ordeal. Elena waited for him to walk over and put an arm protectively around her shoulders. She didn't move though, as she kept her gaze on Damon.

"Be nice to her, Damon. I mean it. Don't scare her or any of that nonsense you like to do." Elena insisted firmly.

"Aw, how cute. You're so protective of her already." Damon crooned, smirking at her. He had no intentions of hurting the girl.

With one last roll of her eyes, Elena made her way with Stefan out the front door. Damon went over to the fireplace and stood in front of it, staring into the flame for a moment, before glancing over his shoulder at Amy who lay asleep on the couch under his compulsion.

She had gotten so upset when Elena walked into the room, that they couldn't get anything useful out of her, or even talk because she was making such a racket. He had to compel her to sleep so they could converse.

He went over and stood next to her, lightly tracing his finger over her cheek. She stirred, making a small noise in the back of her throat, nestling her head deeper into the pillow. It almost deterred him from waking her.

"Amy." Almost. "Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up, yawning. Damon knelt down so that he was eye level with her. Amy blinked, looking momentarily dazed, before she focused on Damon. Her eyes were guarded and she stiffened slightly as she looked at him, then around the room for any signs of Elena.

"Can I go home now?" she asked, her voice soft. "I just want to go home." Tears were brimming in her eyes. Home for her wasn't much. A small house with foster parents that didn't really give a rats backside about her, but at the moment, it seemed safer.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you." Damon answered, and he sounded almost sincere. "Until we get some answerers, it'll be much safer for you to stay here."

"Safe from what?" Amy asked hesitantly. She wasn't in any danger until he showed up.

"I'll explain everything tomorrow. I promise. But for now, I have a room you can sleep in."

Damon stood up and held his hand out for her. Amy looked at it, then into his face.

"I'm not going to bite." Damon grinned at the lie behind the truth. When she still didn't take it, he retracted his hand. "Fine, don't take it. But if you try running, I will make you hold my hand like an untrustworthy little child."

Amy flushed at his terminology and stood from the couch. Damon led her from the room and up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms. He opened the door, ushering her in.

When he entered in behind her and closed the door, she turned to look at him anxiously.

"I—I'm not interested in you, l-like that. J-just so you know." She stammered. She had a stuttering problem when she was younger, which came out when she was under pressure, or scared.

Damon raised an eyebrow. Was this girl really assuming that he was taking her in there to take advantage of her? Well, it wouldn't be totally unlike him, he thought.

"You don't have to worry. I'm not going to hurt you." Damon assured her for what he felt was the hundredth time that night. "But I am going to stay in here. You know, just to make sure you don't wander anywhere you shouldn't." he winked.

Amy turned to face the bed, wringing her hands together. It was a large bed. Larger than any bed she'd ever slept in. She was used to single beds. She didn't have many nice things, especially moving around between the foster system.

Slowly, she pulled the comforter back on one side. Her shoes had been removed while she was sleeping on the couch, by who, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was Elena. She doubted Damon would have the consciousness to remove her shoes.

She placed her hand on the bed, feeling it. Damon watched her, raising an eyebrow.

"Can you please stop staring at me?" She asked suddenly, then glanced over her shoulder at him. "I can f-feel you staring at me. Can you please s-stop?"

Amused, Damon sat down in the armchair in the corner, folding her arms across his chest.

"If you get in bed and go to sleep like a good little girl, I won't have to keep staring." He told her with a flash in his eyes. Immediately a flush rose up into her face and she quickly scrambled into the bed. Wow, Damon thought. She really was the complete opposite of Elena. Elena would have argued and found reasons not to get in bed just because he had suggested it.

Damon reached over to flip the light off, but halted when she said, "Don't." she was sitting up with the blankets pulled to her chest. "Please, leave it on."

"Amy, for the millionth time, I'm not going to do anything." Damon reiterated.

"I-I'm not worried about that. I just-I don't like it to be completely dark when I sleep." There was something small and pathetic about her tone, and it almost made Damon want to get up and go over to her, to put his arm around her and comfort her. Instead, he retracted his arm and crossed it over his chest again.

"Very well." He said as she lay back into the pillow. "Goodnight, Amelia."

~ . ~

Damon awoke to the sound of a scuffle. Being a vampire with superb hearing, he was a very light sleeper. His eyes opened, yet he remained still, quickly surveying the room for the source of the noise. It was the bed where Amy was sleeping. She was flopping back and forth, her face strained and shining with sweat as she made a whining noises in the back of her throat.

Damon straightened up in his chair, watching intently, curiously.

"Mhmm-nooo." She groaned, twitching her head from side to side. "No." her voice was beginning to rise as it became clearer and her twitching grew more sharp and quick. "Noo! Noo!"

Suddenly, she was bolt upright in the bed, chest heaving as she breathed heavily. Her hands shot up to her neck, clutching at it. Damon's eyebrows drew together as he watched her hunch over with her face in her hands, but only for a moment before she shot up again with a gasp, looking wildly around the room.

When she saw Damon staring at her, she shrieked, scrambling back until she toppled off the other side of the bed.

"Oh, for God's sake." Damon muttered, quickly going over to assist her back to her feet.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She muttered, trying to shrug him off.

"Clearly." Damon replied sarcastically, taking a step back once she was on her feet. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing."

Amy climbed back into the bed, pulling the covers up to her chest, hugging them against herself. Her heart was still racing a mile a minute, and that shock of seeing Damon staring at her didn't help either. The fact that he was there made it harder for her to calm herself. Usually when she woke during the night, she was alone, and she was able to deal with her emotions alone.

"Nothing. Right." Damon rolled his eyes. "So what, were you choking in your dream? Drowning?"

"What do you mean?" Amy breathed, resting her head against the backboard of the bed.

"When you woke up you grabbed your throat. It must have had something to do with your dream."

Damon slowly walked around her bed, watching her with a raised eyebrow as her eyes widened, mouth parting slightly.

"No, it was just a—just a reaction." She lied. Damon crossed his arms, coming to a stop beside her.

"You're a terrible liar. Why don't you tell me what you were dreaming about?"

"Because it's not any of your business." Amy snapped, causing Damon to raise an eyebrow. "I don't even know you, I'm not going to tell you about my dreams, so just leave me alone!"

She rolled over, turning her back to him. She pulled the covers up to her chin, wrapped in the blankets like a cocoon.

"Like I said," Damon said softly. "You're a terrible liar. And you will tell me."


	2. Hard Bargains

**PLEASE NOTE: For those of you who are not aware, or are confused or angry that there is only a portion of the story up, it is because I have decided to go back and edit it as I was not happy with the way it was turning out. I hope I didn't lose too many of my followers and I'm sorry if you don't enjoy the new update as much as you did the old one, but I was feeling it and there was no way I could continue with the way it was going. So, with that, I hope you enjoy this freshly edited chapter with some of the old stuff and a little bit of new stuff :)**

Chapter Two:

Amy rolled over, squinting her eyes open in the brightly lit room. Sun was pouring through the window across her bed. Well, not really _her _bed, but the bed she had been sleeping in. Slowly, she eased her feet out of bed and onto the floor, being very careful not to make any noise or creak any floor boards.

Damon had abandoned his post from the chair in the corner of the room, but she wasn't quite sure where he went, or when he would be back. Tentatively, she took a few steps towards the big windows, stepping fully into the sunshine to look out at the trees surrounding the back of the house.

Her mouth opened slightly. She had never seen so many trees in one spot before. There were barely any trees in the city she grew up in. It was all apartment houses and tall, shabby buildings. Even the places that did have trees, certainly didn't have this many. As far as she could see, there were full, luscious trees with emerald green leaves, shining in the sun.

It was beautiful, but all too soon, there was a knock at the door that startled her out of her enchantment. Her heart thumped in her chest as she ran over to the bed, then paused, looking around wildly, not sure what to do.

"If you don't answer, I'm coming in whether you want me to or not." Damon's voice said from the other side. Amy climbed onto the bed and scooted over so that she was sitting up in the sunlight, grabbing her pillow to put in her lap.

"Come in." She answered, her voice shaky with nerves and hoarse from sleep. The door swung open and Damon stood there with a glass of orange juice and a plate of pancakes in his hand.

"I thought you might be hungry." He said, quirking his eyebrow at her as he walked over. Her hair was ruffled from sleep, and the mascara that had been running down her face the night before was smudged under her eyes. Damon stopped at the edge of the bed, just shy of the light.

"Uh, thanks." Amy replied, regarding him carefully. He wasn't moving. He raised an eyebrow at her, before shaking his head with a sigh and placing the plate on the bed next to her. She watched as his hand broke past the line of shade and went into the light. "How-" she gasped, startled, looking up at him quickly. "H-how did you know I would be hungry?"

Damon straightened up, narrowing his eyes at her. He didn't fall for her cover up for one second. She knew what he was. He saw it in her eyes, the way she watched him in the shadow, and the shock the moment he crossed his hand into the light. He could hear the beating of her heart as it sped up, the sweat starting to form in a fine layer along her hairline.

"I had a hunch." He replied stonily, stepping around the bed until he was fully engulfed in the light. Her eyes followed him, widening slightly as he did so. "So, you have something to tell me?"

"What makes you think that?" Amy squeaked, squeezing her pillow tighter.

"Look, sweetheart," Damon snapped, quickly putting his face in hers. "I know you're lying to me. You want answers from me? First, I want answers from you."

Amy closed her eyes as his nose was barely brushing hers. His breath was sweeping across her face.

"I don't-I don't know what you're talking about." Amy whispered.

"Stop lying to me!" Damon roared, hitting the plate so that it went flying across the room. He was done playing Mr. Nice Guy. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now. "Who are you!"

"I'm no one!" Amy cried, terrified. Damon growled and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her so that she was up against the headboard. "Please, I'm no one, I'm nothing."

"I. Don't. Believe. You." Damon gritted out, his face dangerously close to her neck. She squirmed uncomfortably. "You don't want to talk?" he brushed his lips against her neck. "Fine. Don't."

He opened his mouth, teeth grazing her neck.

"No! No, please! Don't!" she breathed, squirming violently under his strong hold.

"Don't what?" Damon asked, nipping gently at her neck, a smile playing on his lips.

"Don't . . . don't bite me." Amy finished, her voice barely above a whisper. Damon paused with his lips on her neck for a moment, letting her shiver under his touch, before he pulled back. He grabbed her face in his hands, her heart pounding loudly in her chest.

"Who. Are. You." Damon said slowly, firmly, holding her gaze, but not using any of his compulsion. Amy bit her bottom lip, her eyes flashing from his, to her lap, to the side of the bed, then back as she fought herself on what to say.

"It's complicated." she finally said.

"Let's start with how you know what I am."

Amy sighed. "You promise you're not going to hurt me?"

"If I have to promise you that I'm not going to hurt you, which I have done hundreds of times, I might actually have to hurt you." Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "Now talk."

"Okay, okay." Amy pulled her head back and Damon let her. There was a long pause before she spoke again. "I don't just know what you are, I also know who you are."

"And who would that be?" Damon asked, his tone mocking.

"Damon Salvatore. The vampire that changed my mother."

Damon stood there for a moment without saying anything. So, this girl knew about Isobel. She knew Isobel's back story, or at least, enough of it to know about him. He narrowed his eyes.

"Who sent you here?"

"W-what do you mean?" Amy asked, her tone accusatory. "_You_ abducted _me_, remember?"

"Someone sent you to the club last night, who was it?"

"No one!" Amy said, starting to get nervous. This wasn't going at all well. First she was taken against her will, and now she was being accused of sneaking her way into their home?

"Are you trying to tell me, that you, a girl who looks exactly like Elena Gilbert, just so happened to be in the same exact club as me last night, and it was all by some strange coincidence?" his tone was sharp and sarcastic.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say!" Amy insisted.

Damon stood up straight and folded his arms across his chest. He stared down at her, trying to determine whether he believed her or not. She did spend the entirety of last night pretending she had no idea who he was. That also led him to the question, did she pretend to not know Elena?

"It seems," Damon started, wandering over to the chair he spent the night watching her in, grabbing it and dragging it in front of the bed so as to sit in it. "We have _much _to discuss, this morning."

He sank down into the chair, crossing one ankle over his thigh and lacing his fingers together. Amy drew her knees up to her chest. That was exactly what she was afraid of.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we? When did you first meet Isobel?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm nosey, now talk." When Amy didn't respond right away, he leaned forward menacingly. "If I have to ask again, you won't have any choice whether you want to answer or not. I'm being very generous right now, not compelling you to tell me everything. Be grateful for that."

"Be grateful?" Amy demanded angrily, her eyes brimming with tears. "You abducted me against my will! You're demanding that I tell you my life story, and you want me to be grateful that you're still allowing me to use free will to tell it?"

"Well it would be very rude of you not to be." Damon replied with the air of one who was merely pointing out the obvious.

"I'm not telling you anything!" She yelled back angrily, the tears flowing over her lids. Never in her life had she wanted to be back at home with her hung over foster mother as much as she did right now.

"We'll see about that." Damon said, then was suddenly in front of her, hands on either side of her head against the headboard.

"Damon." A sharp voice said from the doorway. Damon closed his eyes briefly, then turned to give a sarcastic smile to Elena. She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed angrily over her chest. "Leave her alone."

Damon turned his head back to Amy, who glared at him through unshed tears.

"Looks like big sis came to save the day."

He pushed away from the headboard and returned the glare Elena was giving him.

"She knows things, Elena. We can't just let her refuse to tell us."

"Well we can't just put her under compulsion to get what we want, either!" she snapped, stalking over to the bed. Amy looked back and forth at them. With each of them on either side of her, and one of them being a vampire, there was no way she would be able to make a break for it. "She doesn't deserve to be treated like that. Especially if we need her to work with us. She's a _guest_, not some lowly prisoner."

"It sure doesn't feel like it." Amy replied sourly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Elena gave Damon a look as if to say, "See?"

"Why don't we give her a moment to freshen up in the bathroom, I brought her a change of clothes, and then we can all go downstairs and talk about this like civilized people." Elena suggested, her tone still very accusatory towards Damon.

"Alright, whatever." Damon rolled his eyes.

"I left some clothes for you in the bathroom across the hall." Elena told Amy softly. "I can show you where it is."

Amy gave Damon one last glance, before scooting off the other side of the bed and following Elena out of the room.

~ . ~

Amy stared into the mirror where the glass reflected her experience of the night before. Bags seemed to drag her eyes down and the crusted mascara that ran below her lids wasn't helping either. She hardly looked like her normal self. She looked like her foster mother on Saturday mornings when she came home from a long night of partying. Except she wasn't swaying where she stood and there wasn't dried vomit on her clothes.

She reached for the sink, turning on the hot water and letting it fill the basin until it was steaming up the mirror. Damon had given her a small washcloth to clean herself up a bit with, mentioning that he was considering her relationship to raccoons, rather than to Elena.

Damon, Amy thought. She couldn't quite put a finger on what it was about him, but there was definitely something more than what met the eye with him. He seemed dislikable, yet, somehow likable at the same time, but only for a fraction of a second until she really thought about it. . Mostly, he seemed scary—and unpredictable.

With a shake of her head, Amy cleared the thoughts of Damon from her mind and dipped the washcloth into the water. It was hot, almost hot enough where it was unbearable, but that was what she wanted. She felt dirty, greasy, contaminated. After brushing against all those sweaty bodies last night while her friend dragged her through the club, she was ready for an actual shower, and after being forcibly taken against her will—forced by mind control, more like it, she wished she could wash her mind as well. She just didn't quite feel _clean_.

Gingerly, Amy wiped the mascara from her face, feeling better and better as it was removed from her skin. After a few moments of indulging herself with the warmth of the cloth, she removed it from her face and looked into the mirror. There she was. That was more like it. Her eyes, bright as always, let on to none of the problems that were going on behind them, and her fair skin was even and tear-streak free.

She didn't have a very good poker face under a stressful situation, but on a daily basis, the sadness and longing for a better life that she felt never showed through her eyes.

A knock at the door startled her, and Damon's irritated voice came through.

"By the time you finish up in the, _I'll _be dead."

"My evil plan has been thwarted, I see." Amy mumbled under her breath, swinging the door open. Damon had his arm resting on the frame above his head and his eyes found hers before she could find his. His eyes were just as bright blue as they were last night, and marginally more intensified in the sunlight streaming through the bathroom window. "I—uhh, was just finishing up . . ." She ended, trailing off, then forced herself to look away. Dangerous and unpredictable, she reminded herself.

"Good. They're waiting down in the living room. If you're done staring at yourself in the mirror, we can go join them and work out this little conundrum we've found ourselves in."

"How—I wasn't—were you spying on me?" Amy asked astonished.

"I beg your pardon?" Damon replied, tilting his head to the side.

"I wasn't just _staring _at myself in the mirror!"

"You weren't? My bad. I was just stereotyping. You know," he shrugged and gestured to her and the mirror, "girl, mirror, staring—they kind of go hand in hand."

Amy bristled, opening her mouth to retort, but no words came out. She was not one of those girls that stared in the mirror for hours on end to relish in her own beauty. In fact, she hated girls like that. She wasn't that concerned with the way she looked, and even if she was, she never had the luxury to do anything about it.

She closed her mouth and let out an irritated breath through her nose, biting her cheek.

"Well, let's go then." She finally said to a clearly entertained Damon. As if to rub salt on her wound, he winked before taking his arm down and turning to lead her down the hallway to the stairs. She followed, arms crossed feeling utterly insulted. How dare he.

Even as they entered the living room, she was still seething. He knew nothing about her, how dare he make assumptions about the type of girl she was—and why did she care so much?

"Uh-oh, Damon. What did you do?" Stefan said as they entered and he saw Amy walk in, too distracted in her thoughts to even notice them. When he spoke, however, she broke herself from the thoughts to look.

"Oh, I might have said something a teensy bit offensive to her. But how was I supposed to know. She's _very _sensitive." He quirked an eyebrow when he said 'very', glancing over at her with mockery in his eyes.

Amy narrowed her eyes at him.

"You know, I didn't ask to be here! The least you could do is be kind!" she retorted. "If you don't want to be nice, then I shouldn't have to be either. I'm not saying anything further about Isobel or Elena or _anything_, until you agree to stop with the snide comments to me every two minutes."

Elena and Stefan both raised their eyebrows at her, then looked over to Damon simultaneously to see his reaction. Whatever he was thinking, he didn't let anything show on the surface. He was quite for a brief moment before he walked slowly over to Amy.

"Damon-" Elena started, taking a step forward, but Stefan held her back. She brushed his hand away, giving him a look, but didn't say anything else.

"You're very cheeky for a little girl in a stranger's house." He told her slowly, holding her gaze. "But," he said loud and sudden, taking a step back and pointing at her "You drive a hard bargain. It's a deal. I'll be less . . . defamatory, if you agree to be _very_ cooperative with us."

"Deal." Amy said, begrudgingly. Anything that might get her out of there.

"So, let's get to business, shall we?" Damon asked, rubbing his hands together with a crazy smile on his face. The four of them sat down on the two couches, Elena and Stefan on one, Damon and Amy on the other. "First things first. Amy knows Isobel, and she knows that I changed her."

Everyone looked to Amy, who looked back like a deer in the headlights.

"Um, y-yeah." She responded nervously. She wasn't a very good public speaker. "Um . . . well."

"Go on." Damon replied, leaning back on the couch. "Lead the way."

"Well," Amy began to fiddle her hands together, glancing over at Elena. "If I promise to tell you everything I know, will you let me go home?"

Her tone was serious and low.

"I—of course." Elena said after a moment.

"Promise?" Amy insisted.

"I promise." Elena said. Amy could see the look that Damon gave her out of the corner of her eye.

"Okay." She said, leaning back into the couch. "First, I'll start from the beginning, when I met Isobel."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

"It was only a few years ago, when I was thirteen. I was at the park, walking some of the trails they had. There weren't many wooded areas in Burden—but I wished there were. I walked those trails almost every day after school until dark, ever since I was placed with Danica, my current foster mother." Amy paused, looking down into her lap where her fingers folded and unfolded continuously.

"She started coming to watch me first. I didn't notice it at first. She was just another woman sitting at the picnic table beside me, or another woman walking along the path. That was, until almost a week later she had been there every day, doing the exact same thing I did. That's when I noticed. We were on the trail. She was walking behind me at a distance. I stopped, waiting for her to pass, or go back, or do something to prove I was wrong. But she didn't."

Damon looked across the rug at Elena, who sat with a stony expression on her face, jaw tense, then back to Amy whose expression was oddly blank.

"I didn't know what she wanted. If she was there to abduct me, or sent from social services. Either way, whatever she was there for didn't really matter. Being abducted didn't seem so bad at the time, nor did social services finding out what was going on at home. So, I walked straight over to her and demanded to know why she was following me." There was a pause. "I think I caught her off guard. She wasn't expecting me to confront her. So, she told me. I didn't believe her, obviously. I mean, why would a mother who gave her child up just suddenly decide she wanted to meet her thirteen years later?"

Even though it was a rhetorical question, Amy paused for a while, biting her bottom lip.

"What was going on at home?" Elena asked softly, and Amy's eyes flicked up to hers as though that part of the story was merely meant to be ignored, or not even told at all.

"My foster mother _had _a husband when I first got there . . . he's in prison now." Was all she said.

Damon and Stefan exchanged pained glances with each other. Even though this Elena look-alike was _not _Elena, it was still difficult to imagine her in a situation that would land a man in jail.

"After that first day when I met her, she continued to come back every day. Some days I didn't go straight to the park after school. Instead, I went to a café or the library, just to throw her off. But she always found me. She said that she wanted to get to know me, and was willing to work hard to do so, which I guess included stalking me when I left school."

"Weren't you scared?" Elena asked. "Her showing up everywhere you went?"

"I was at first." Amy admitted. "But I wasn't going to tell anyone. I mean, she showed up out of nowhere. She could just as easily disappear and where would my proof be then? So I let her follow me. I let her talk to me each day. Eventually, I began to believe her. I began to talk back, and that led to us doing more things together. She helped me with homework. Gave me some money to buy food. But she never stayed with me more than two hours each day. I knew that there was no way she would ever ask me to go live with her because of that."

"So you just let her come back into your life knowing that she wasn't going to take you back?" Elena asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. Because those two hours were the best part of my day." Amy replied, then her tone changed so that it was softer. "Or, it was. Eventually, she stopped coming as much, until a few months ago when we were walking the same trail she met me on. It was then she decided to show her true colors, to tell me what she was. Just like when she told me she was my mother, I didn't believe her. I mean, vampires are for stories, movies, tales to scare children. And then, she showed me."

"How?" Elena said, looking sick.

"She didn't bite me." Amy assured her. "But she did that—thing. You know, where their eyes go all weird and their fangs grow . . ." she went quite, and the three let her.

They watched as a series of emotions played out on her face, until she spoke again.

"It wasn't for another few weeks that I trusted her again. I didn't talk to her much, but she was always there, just like before. Then one day, she said that there was a reason she came back, and it had to do with my safety. She told me about another vampire, named Klaus. She said that he was different from any other vampire. He was more powerful, stronger, completely immortal, and he was looking for me—or someone exactly like me. That was when she told me that I had a twin. She didn't tell me much about her—er, about you." She corrected herself, briefly looking at Elena.

"She just said that when we were born, she left you on the doorstep of some family in Mystic Falls, and me on the doorstep of someone else. Turns out she knew exactly who she was leaving you with, but unfortunately for me, the random family she picked wasn't so nice, and brought me to child services immediately." Amy sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Basically what she told me, was that Klaus needed one of us for a ritual. She told me that she thought by placing you with the family she did, you wouldn't end up mixed up with vampires, that they would know and protect you. I was meant to be an easy target. In her mind, at least one of us would survive. But when she went to check on you a few months ago because there was a stir about Klaus, she found that you were exactly where you weren't supposed to be, mixed up with vampires, werewolves, and witches."

"So she said I was the safest one."

Elena sat there with her mouth wide open in shock. Damon and Stefan had looks on their face that showed how this information was not exactly what they wanted to hear.

"And that's all I know. I haven't seen her since that day." Amy concluded with a sigh of relief. "Now can I please go home?"

"Wait a second," Damon said, holding a hand out to her. "You can't just leave after telling us something like that. And obviously, if Klaus is looking for you, or her," he pointed to Elena. "You're still not completely safe. If Klaus knows there are _two _look –a-likes, he's not just going to settle for one. He's going to want _both _of you."

"My safety is none of your concern." Amy objected. "None of you even knew I existed until you happened upon me at the club last night, and prior to that, I've been doing just fine on my own!"

"None of my concern?" Damon demanded, his eyes flashing. "Whatever Klaus wants to sacrifice you for is most definitely my concern! It won't just affect you. Chances are, whatever it is he's wants to do will have catastrophic consequences!"

"That doesn't give you the right to keep me prisoner here! She promised I could go!" Amy pointed an angry finger at Elena, hot tears building in her eyes. "I gave you what you wanted! Now give me what I want!"

"Alright, alright," Stefan said, standing up from the couch and holding his hands out for peace. "Let's just relax for a minute and think about this."

Elena was still sitting on the couch, having not moved since Amy finished her story. Amy crossed her arms over her chest in a huff of indignation. Damon thought she looked very much like a young child about to throw a temper tantrum.

"Damon, we really _don't _have the right to keep Amy here. We're not kidnappers, and I'm sure having her here would cause more problems than if we let her return home."

"Thank you." Amy snapped as though what Stefan was saying was obvious.

"Stefan this isn't just about her. This is about _everyone_. If Klaus gets what he wants, it can't be good for any of us."

"Then we just have to make sure we find a way to kill him before he gets it." Stefan countered. He turned to Elena, holding a hand out to her to help her from the couch. She took it mutely and stood up. "I'm going to bring Amy home."

"I'll go with you." She said immediately, but Stefan shook his head. "It's not a good idea. You stay here."

"Stefan-" Elena began, but he shook his head firmly.

"I mean it, Elena. Stay here." He turned to Amy, holding a hand out for her. "Ready?"

She stood up without taking his hand, giving Damon one last look of reproach.

"I've been ready since last night." She grumbled, and without anything more than a 'goodbye' to Elena, followed Stefan from the living room out to his car.

~ . ~

When Amy finally arrived home, it was almost one in the afternoon. She waved goodbye to Stefan as she opened her front door and entered the ratty house. It was quiet, as it usually was on Saturdays. Danica must not have woken up yet.

Good, Amy thought, going down the hall to her room. She closed the door behind her and went over to her bed where she fished a dark purple, leather bound book out from under her mattress. Opening it up to the page where her pen was stuck, she sat on her bed and leaned against the wall.

_Dear Dee_

Amy called her diary 'Dee' as it was short for 'Diary' and felt more personal to her, having a name, as if 'Dee' were a real person that she was telling all her thoughts and feelings to.

_September 4th 2009_

_I feel like my whole life is coming apart. I feel like the ground I'm standing on is going to crumble away at any second. This is so strange . . . movie strange. This type of thing doesn't actually happen in real life. Though, I know it's not a dream—or a nightmare. It is real. How am I going to get through this, Dee? How does a person handle a situation like this? Elena seems to have it under control. It's almost like she's not even phased by it. Everything about her seems to be the opposite of me. Calm, cool, collected, confident . . . I've never been any of those things. And those two brothers, they seem to care about her a lot. She must be special to have vampires care about her. They don't care about anything. At least, that's what Isobel tells me. I believe her. But I also believe she doesn't quite care about me that much either. _

_I feel like I haven't seen the last of them. It'll be all too soon before I see those piercing blue eyes again, I know it. _

_Amy _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Damon stood up and poured himself a drink at the table behind the couch. Elena watched him silently. Neither of them spoke after Amy left with Stefan. It was easy to see that both of their minds were reeling with what they had just heard.

How was it possible for Stefan to be so unperturbed by Amy's story? It was uncharacteristically cold of him to seem to not give a second thought to the safety concerns of her going back to her house in Burden, and rather out of character for Damon to care more about it than him. Stefan was the 'saint' out of the two of them, after all.

Damon swallowed a large sip of whiskey, then grimaced.

"I hope you understand how much danger Amy is in." he said after a moment. "Isobel may have told her that she was the safest out of the two of you, but come on, it's Isobel. She's never been very trustworthy. At least in my books. Just because she insinuated that Amy was safe, is enough to believe she's really not."

"We couldn't keep her here against her will, Damon." Elena said, sighing tiredly.

"You've said that already."

"Then I don't understand why you're still bringing it up."

"Really, Elena? You don't? Why don't I explain it to you then?" Damon snapped, rounding on her. "Klaus wants to _kill _you. _Her_. That little encounter you had with Elijah the other day is _nothing _compared to what Klaus can do. Katherine was never afraid of much, but I saw the way she spoke about Klaus, one time for a very brief moment, and she was _scared._"

"I feel like I'm missing the point, here." Elena said exasperated.

"The _point_, is," Damon continued, putting his drink down. "If we can't find a way to kill Klaus, he _will_, kill you. Both. And I cannot let that happen."

He turned on his heel, away from Elena, and walked out of the room.

~ . ~

"Amy! Hey, Amy!" Katie pushed through the crowded hallway to get to her friend who was heading the same direction as her. Amy glanced back over her shoulder and slowed as much as the wave of people behind her would allow.

The crowd for first lunch period was ridiculous.

"There you are! Where were you? I waited next to your locker for like, five minutes!" Katie said as Amy got in earshot.

"Sorry," Amy breathed, looking disheveled as her hair was in her face and her bag was pulling her cardigan off her shoulder. "I was in the library and I didn't hear the bell ring."

"Again? Jesus, what is it with you and the library this week? We've only been at school for one week and you're in there like it's your job."

"I just had some stuff I wanted to look up." Amy mumbled as she tried to adjust her strap back onto her shoulder, while pulling her cardigan back into place.

"Like what?"

"Nothing." Amy shook her head as they entered the cafeteria and the noise seemed to triple. She glanced around, eyes searching, then looked over her shoulder.

"Are you looking for someone?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. She was certainly acting strange.

"Mhm?" Amy asked, looking back at her. "What?"

Katie looked at her as though she has grown two heads.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why? Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"You just seem, different." Katie said slowly as if trying to figure out exactly how to describe her behavior. Strange, weird, sketchy, were also adjectives that popped into her head.

Amy shook her head, but in her mind, she was screaming. Yes, she was acting different. Ever since she had been brought home last Saturday, she had a feeling like there was someone watching her, yet whenever she looked around, there was no one. It was eating away at her nerves, making her jumpy and nervous.

She hadn't been sleeping well either. The nightmares she was having before were nothing compared to the ones that started the past few nights. Every night she awoke in a cold sweat, fear and adrenaline coursing through her body. Bags were forming under her eyes and it was obvious to everyone.

They came to their usual seats at the table in the back corner. Simultaneously they dropped their bags onto the table and sat down. Katie bit her cheek, watching Amy from across the table.

"Are you sure?" she asked tentatively. "If there's something wrong—you know I'm here for you. Is it Danica?"

"Danica?" Amy asked, taken a back. "No. She's the same as always."

Amy took her diary out of her backpack, turning in her chair to lean up against the wall as she put her feet on the chair next to her. Katie recognized the diary, and resigned herself to eating lunch in quiet. Once Amy pulled out her diary, there was no talking to her. Her focus was on the diary alone.

_Dear Dee_

_September 14th, 2009_

_I can't shake this feeling that someone is following me. I can't tell if I'm psyching myself out or not. Maybe it's just an aftershock of being kidnapped. Maybe there really is someone out there watching me. Either way, it's driving me crazy. I can't go anywhere without looking over my shoulder. What if it's Klaus? Could it have been possible for him to find me that fast? _

_What if he was already in Mystic Falls? What if Damon and Elena are working with him and they kidnapped me for him? But that wouldn't explain why they let me go home. I mean, Damon was very against it. Elena agreed to let me leave after I told them about Isobel. Could that have been part of the plot? To get any information they could out of me, and in order to do that, they had to act like they were on my team, and now that I'm home, Klaus is watching, waiting for the best time to get me? _

_I can't breathe. I feel like something is crushing my chest, squeezing the breath out of me. I don't know how much longer I can take this—this feeling. Maybe I'll be better off just killing myself. At least then there would be half the chance of Klaus getting me, right? _

_Besides, I think my teachers are calling CPS on my foster mom because of the dark bags under my eyes from the endless nightmares of having my throat ripped out by some faceless vampire. That's the last thing I need right now. _

_Amy_

The bell for the end of lunch rang, and she quickly put the journal back into her bag. Her stomach growled pitifully as she hadn't eaten any lunch at all. Nor had she eaten breakfast, or dinner the previous night.

The rest of the day went by tortuously slow. Katie met up with her at the entrance to the school as they normally did.

"Hey, do you want to come over tonight?" Katie asked, eying her worriedly. "My mom said it was okay."

"Thanks, but I have to go do something." Amy replied vaguely, glancing down at her watch. Because Danica had not invested in a phone for her, she wore the watch so she could tell what time it was. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She turned to leave, but Katie reached out, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Amy, call me later, okay?" she pleaded.

"You know how Danica is about the phone." Amy reminded her evenly.

"I know, but-" she sighed, "Please, just give me a call so I know that you're okay before you go to bed."

Amy looked at her, almost as if seeing her for the first time that day. The look in her eyes, and the crease between her brows showed the concern that she had. That was not good. The more that people were concerned about her, the more they would try to get involved to see what the problem was, and she couldn't have that.

Forcing herself to put on a smile, she reached out and put her hand on Katie's shoulder.

"I'll call you, I promise." She assured her. "But I have to go, I'll talk to you soon."

She turned around, after giving Katie's shoulder a quick squeeze, and took off towards the street that led into town. As soon as she crossed the school property line, she stepped off the path and swung her backpack off her shoulders, kneeling in the grass to dig through it until she came out with a switch blade, which she shoved in her pocket after swinging the bag back onto her shoulders.

Glancing around, she headed towards the main library downtown.

~ . ~

"Come on," Amy mumbled to herself as she looked through the last book on vampire lore and myths. "There has to be more than that."

She had been through every single book she could find on vampires. If the word vampire so much as showed up once in the book, she had been through it. But she couldn't find anything useful that would help her. There were so many different myths about what would kill them or not kill them, or how they could do or not do certain things. Nothing she found was remotely helpful in any way, shape or form.

The library was getting less and less crowded as it got later and later. But that feeling of being watched was still raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Glancing outside, Amy's heart leaped in her chest, and she looked down at her watch. It was eight o'clock, and the sun had set twenty minutes ago.

"No, no, no." She muttered, pushing her chair back clumsily and grabbing her backpack from the floor. Her house was a good fifteen minute walk away, and she had no money for the bus or a cab. She didn't even have a flashlight.

She stood to the entrance of the library, looking out into the dark, her heart sinking. There was no way that Danica would show up and pick her up. She couldn't call Katie, because he mom worked nights at the diner and they only had one car.

"Shit." She spat, angry at herself for losing track of time, and stiff-armed her way out of the door into the night. She tried to convince herself that she was only imagining the feeling the being watched or followed, that there really was no reason to be afraid. She kept her eyes darting back and forth, looking for any signs of trouble. Even if she didn't have to worry about vampires stalking her, once she reached her neighborhood, she would have to watch out for the creepy men that occasionally tried to pick up girls.

That led her to wonder, would she rather meet one of those men, or a vampire? Depending on the vampire, she guessed she would rather meet one of them if they would at least give her a quick death. The sound of footsteps suddenly made her realize that there was someone behind her. Her heart began to beat quickly as she sped up the pace. The footsteps sped up as well.

She spun around, drawing the blade out of her pocket, but the footsteps stopped and there was no one there. Amy's hand was shaking and her breath was visible in the cool night air. Her body seemed frozen in place as she searched for a sign of anyone.

After a slow, short moment of seeing nothing but darkness, dimly lit by streetlamps, she turned around.

"_Ahhhhh!" _She fell backward, tripping over her feet and falling to the ground. Before she landed however, strong hands grabbed her arms and steadied her on her feet. In the scare light of the streetlamp, a pair of startlingly blue eyes peered down at her. "Damon?" she breathed, her voice hoarse from shock.

"So," he said tersely. "Do you still feel safe?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

"It—you—have?" Amy spluttered, trying to form words out of the thoughts racing through here mind. Had it been Damon following her over the past week? She shoved him away roughly, anger coursing through her. "Don't touch me!" she yelled angrily, completely overwhelmed.

She had been looking over her shoulder every minute and carrying a weapon around in her backpack at school all because Damon was following her? She hadn't been eating, or sleeping and felt like she was losing her mind, all because of Damon?

Of course, she thought. It all made sense, now.

"What is the matter with you!" she demanded, shoving him again, using the flats of her palms against his chest. He took a startled step back, looking down at her in surprise. "You couldn't just leave me alone? Well I guess I know whose side you're really on now! I should have realized it as soon as you took me! You only let me go home because you knew you could follow me around and keep an eye on me, waiting for the perfect moment to take me, like tonight!"

"What are you-" he began, but Amy cut him off, pointing an accusing finger towards him.

"You want to take me to Klaus, fine." She held the point of her switch blade to where she estimated her heart to be, tears streaming down her face. She was going to end this now. No more worrying about Klaus. No more worrying about what would happen if he got her. No more worrying about Danica. No more nightmares of vampires. No more nightmares of Duncan. She was going to end all of that. "Bring him my dead body."

Without a second thought, she plunged the knife into her chest. She caught a quick glimpse of shock on Damon's face as he lunged toward her. She was barely aware of his arms catching her as she fell to the ground, feeling as though the weight she felt on her chest was heavier than before. Her breaths came in rasping wheezes.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Damon demanded, more out of shock than anything, lowering her to the ground and resting her head in his lap. He could hear her heart still beating, but the way she was breathing told him she punctured a lung. "God dammit." He muttered, stretching his arm out to gain access to his wrist from under his jacket sleeve and pulling the knife out of her chest with the other. "Amy, don't you dare die on me." He quickly bit into his wrist, then firmly placed the open wound over her mouth. She sputtered against it at first, her eyes closing, but he was determined to make her drink.

After a few seconds of blood dripping into her mouth, she automatically swallowed. He held his wrist there until she swallowed two more times, then pulled it away. Her head rolled to the side, but he knew she would heal. Looking around to make sure there was no one else on the street, he gathered her in his arms, slinging her backpack onto his shoulders, and ran off into the dark.

~ . ~

_"Stop! Don't touch me!" _

_Amy was backed up against the wall, her eyes wide and terrified. A man was advancing on her, reeking of alcohol with a terrible look on his face. His hands raised, outstretched towards her. One clasped around her neck, squeezing so that she struggled, bringing her own hands up to try and pry it off. _

_Then, the face turned into that of a vampire. Faceless, yet fangs were somehow visible as they leaned in close to her neck. _

Amy shot straight up in bed, her hands clasping around her own throat, her own screams sounding far away and disconnected to her own mouth.

A hand softly grabbed her arm and she jumped, turning to see Elena looking at her with concern on her face. Before she could figure out how to form the words to ask how Elena turned up next to her, Elena called out, "Damon!"

There was a second before the door opened and Damon walked into the room, stopping in the doorway to assess the situation.

When Amy saw him, her memories of what had happened flooded back. He had been following her, and she stabbed herself. Yet, somehow, she was still alive and, after a moment of looking around, realized that she was back in the room she slept in when he first brought her there.

"I should be dead." She whispered, a weight crushing down on her. For some reason, she felt disappointed. Tears formed in her eyes. "Why couldn't you just let me die?"

Elena opened her mouth at the desperation in Amy's question. She looked helplessly over to Damon, who was still standing in the doorway. He walked over slowly, coming to a stop beside her. Amy looked up at him. She wasn't scared, or angry. In fact, if it weren't for the tears in her eyes, it wouldn't be difficult to tell if she was feeling anything at all.

"Amy, Damon told me that you said you thought we were trying to hand you over to Klaus." Elena began, her voice gentle and slow. She wasn't sure how Amy was going to react, and even though they had taken away her blade, it was entirely possible for her to try to harm herself again. "We would _never_, do that. We don't work with Klaus."

"Why should I believe you?" Amy asked, her tone dull. "You kidnapped me, then tried to keep me prisoner. When that didn't work, you followed me. And here I am, once again. Kidnapped. You had to keep me alive so he could kill me for the sacrifice."

"First of all," Damon said before Elena could speak. His tone wasn't gentle or slow. It was harsh and stern. "You are here, because you stuck a knife into your lung. Now, forgive me for not letting you asphyxiate to death on the sidewalk, and please, don't bother thanking me for saving your life."

"Damon," Elena warned, trying to keep her voice calm.

"No, Elena, don't." Damon said, holding a hand out to her. He wasn't going to let her defend Amy and act like what she did was okay. He turned back to Amy, looking her straight in the eye as he spoke. "I spent the entire past week following you, to make sure you were safe. Apparently it was too unethical to keep you here in order to keep you safe, so I had to go to you and try the best I could to watch from a distance. And let me tell you," he paused, looking from Amy, to Elena. "You were lucky I did, because if you were to have gone home tonight, you would be in Klaus's hands at this very moment."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked. Amy still seemed stuck on the fact that she was alive, rather than dead, to care too much.

"I mean, there was another vampire waiting at her house for her. Somehow, someone found out about her. If I hadn't of intercepted her on her way home, she would, most likely be in the hands of Klaus and he would have exactly what he wanted."

"Oh my god." Elena said, her hand covering her mouth. "What—do you think they know where _we_ are?"

"I don't know, but if no one showed up here yet, I doubt it."

Amy looked down at her hands, then slowly brought them to the collar of her shirt and pulled it away so she could look down. Where a stab wound should have been, there was nothing but smooth, untouched skin.

"I should be dead." She said again in wonder.

"Yeah, well you're not." Damon said, his eyes focusing back on her.

"Damon, now is not the time to be an ass." Elena snapped. Amy had leaned back against the headboard now, and was staring ahead.

"I'm not being an ass, Elena. I'm being honest, and to be honest, I'm a little angry."

"About what?" She asked exasperated.

"Well, the fact that I spent an entire week following this one around to make sure she was okay, and then she off and stabs herself when I try to prevent her from walking right into a trap, is a little frustrating." He crossed his arms and glared down at her. "So, if you don't mind, I would like a few minutes alone with her, to discuss the new security arrangements with her."

"I don't think now is a good time. She needs to rest. She looks awful." She added the last bit in a lower voice as not to offend her. Even though the vampire blood healed her, and the bags under her eyes were gone, it was almost as if the look in her eyes proved her physical appearance was just merely that, an appearance.

"She's not going to get any better, if she doesn't understand."

Elena gave him a withering look, then stood up and stalked out of the room. Damon watched her go with a raised eyebrow. Once she had closed the door, Damon sat down in the chair she had been in. By the time Damon had gotten home with Amy in his arms, it was around nine at night, and now it was nearly ten. Due to the amount of time it took Amy to wake up, she had a lot of healing to do.

"Amelia." Damon said firmly, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward, looking at her eyes, waiting for her to flick them slightly to the right to meet his. She blinked, and tears rolled down her cheeks. The anger inside him softened a little and he bowed his head with a sigh. When he looked back up, her hands were covering her face and her shoulders were shaking with silent sobs. "Amy," he said, softer.

"No!" she wailed, shaking her head. She was ready to die. She had made peace with it. There was absolutely nothing here for her. She was only a walking bag a blood for some crazy vampire who wanted terrible things. Elena had everything—family, friends, a community around her that supported her and loved her. Amy had none of that. "Why? Why . . . leave me . . . was ready."

Damon was only able to catch snippets of what she was saying.

"Amy, please." He pleaded. Something inside of him was pulling and his throat felt unnaturally tight.

"I was ready!" her hands came away for her face only for a moment as she used her sleeve to wipe away the tears and snot from her face. "There is nothing here for me."

"That is not true." Damon said sharply, and he found himself holding her wrists in his hands with his face close to hers. She stared, startled, blinking those large brown eyes at him. "We are _not _here to hurt you, Amy. I don't know how long it's going to take me to prove this you, but you have to understand this now. You have Elena, and me, and Stefan. We are going to keep you safe."

He moved so that he was sitting beside her and pulled her against him, cradling her head to his shoulder.

"Why do you want to keep me safe?" she cried, "I'm nothing more than someone else you have to take care of."

"You said it yourself." Damon sighed. "We _want_ to keep you safe. I may be an ass, but I'm not completely heartless. It wouldn't be right for us to leave you out there, defenseless against Klaus, or anything else for that matter, now that we know you."

"You hate me." Amy said softly, sniffing. He was horrible to her when they first met. "You were going to bite me, compel me, and keep me against my will."

"Yes, I get it. I was going to keep you against your will." If she was going to keep blaming him for that, she had another thing coming, because as of two hours ago, when she stabbed herself, she was now going to be staying in Mystic Falls whether she wanted to or not. Even if he had to lock her in this very room until she came to terms with it, or until Klaus was dealt with. "But I do not hate you. I was rather rude, I admit it, but I have never hated you."

Especially after watching her for the past week. There was something about the way she had Elena's genetics, but was more modest and shy about her body. Something about the way she seemed so small and young, yet older than her years and confident at the same time.

They were both silent for a few moments, until Damon spoke again.

"Amy, I understand you may not trust us right away, but I promise, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, you will have one _very _pissed off Salvatore brother to deal with, and I'm not talking about Stefan."

"How pissed?" Amy inquired nervously.

"I'm an old-fashioned man, with old-fashion ways of dealing with naughty little girls."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

When Amy had gone several minutes without sniffling or crying, Damon turned his head to look at her. There were tear streaks down her face and her eyes were red and puffy. She had cried for nearly a half an hour, and he sat there, patiently waiting her out. Her eyelids looked heavy over her eyes and when she blinked, they moved slow and seemed to get lower every time she opened them.

She was having a hard time coping with everything that had happened. Everything inside of her was telling her something different. Her first instinct was not to trust anything that Damon and Elena were saying to her. But then she wondered why? If they really were in league with Klaus, then why would Damon give her his blood to save her? Unless it was for the sacrifice, and that was why she needed to be alive.

But that would be a lot of work when they already had a doppelgänger. Would Klaus really care if he had her or Elena, as long as he had one of them? Surely he wouldn't be that picky to keep Elena alive during the time it took them to find Amy and get her to them. No, if Klaus knew about Elena, he probably wouldn't have waited for her to find Amy.

But as soon as she convinced herself that they weren't going to hand her over, the mistrust grew again inside of her as she came up with an excuse as to why they were keeping her there, rather than for the reason they stated.

All of the inner-conflict she was feeling was making her tired again. She could feel her lids get heavier and heavier. Her eyes burned as they longed to close. She was hardly aware of Damon's gaze on her, or the soft contact of his skin against her cheek as the base of his neck. She didn't even protest when his hand came up to brush away the hair from her face.

"Amy," Damon said softly. She replied with a soft 'mhm?', but didn't do much else. He didn't want to upset her again, or say anything to make her move from where she was, because something in him was loving the weight of her head on his chest and the warmth of her body against him. "We need to talk about what is going to happen now."

Amy didn't want to talk. She wanted to lay there. Damon seemed to get this, and added, "Well, I need to talk. You need to listen."

"Okay." She mumbled, perfectly okay with the idea. She waited while Damon seemed to gather his thoughts and put them in order. How was he going to break it to her easy? Would it be worth it to break it to her easy, or would it be better if he just out right said it?

"You can't go home." He decided that just breaking it to her was best. As he expected, she didn't remain quiet for long.

"What do you mean?" she asked, pulling her head away to look at him. She regarded him with a reproachful look.

"It's too dangerous for you. If I hadn't have been following you, you could have been taken tonight. I tried to tell you last week that we can offer you protection, but it has to be here, it cannot be at home."

"And I tried to tell you last week that it isn't your job to protect me."

Damon blinked and looked away. He wasn't looking to the outburst that was sure to follow in a few moments.

"Actually, Amy, it is my job . . . now." He turned his gaze back to her. Her look said it all. She was confused with anger lurking beneath the surface, so he continued. "While you were at school today, I made all the necessary arrangements for you to be put into my custody. I am now legally your guardian until you turn eighteen next June. In which time we should be able to work out this whole Klaus ordeal." He added the last part in hopes that it would appease her.

Her mouth dropped open and she spluttered something unrecognizable in the few languages that Damon knew.

"You . . . you . . . without my permission . . . h-how c-could you . . . my life . . ." she trailed off, her mouth unable to keep up with the thoughts she was trying to voice. Her hands had clenched into fists on the comforter over her legs. Damon waited, watching. He could see it was only a matter of seconds before she erupted.

"You crazy, controlling, psycho!" she finally yelled, angrily pushing against his shoulders. It didn't do much, but she swung her legs off the other side of the bed and stood up, turning to face him. "You can't just d-do something like t-that! It's my life you m-messing with! You didn't even ask me, you d-didn't even t-talk to me!"

"You wouldn't have listened!" Damon answered. "And you definitely wouldn't have agreed."

"And you'd think that would k-keep you from doing it, t-then, w-wouldn't you!"

"Well, on the contrary, whenever someone tends not to agree with what I do, I do it anyway."

"Did you even ask Elena?"

"Why, is she allowed to make decisions for you?" Damon asked, feigning confusion.

Amy gave a frustrated wail, bringing her hands up to her head as she turned away. He was crazy. He was delusional. She took several purposeful steps around the bed towards the door, but Damon had stood up and intercepted her before she could reach it.

"Let me go." She yelled, using the palms of her hands to push angrily against his chest. "You can't do this!"

"No, and yes, I can. Not only because I want to and it's what's best for you, but also legally. If you leave, I can have the police pick you up and release you only into my custody, so I would think about that before you try sneaking out. Not that you'd get far."

"I hate you!" Amy cried, pounding her fist against his chest. "You ruined my life the moment you walked into it."

"Your life would be ruined whether I walked into it or not." Damon replied softly, and Amy looked up into his face through her tears. She could see the regret and—was it sadness? That somehow seemed to make her angrier. She pounded her fists against him.

"It's not fair!" She protested. "I didn't ask for this!"

"Neither did I."

"It's not fair." She repeated, but her hands had stopped pounding on his chest, and she was now leaning against him, sobbing into him. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and held her head to him with his free hand. Damon wanted to tell her that life was unfair, that things would always happen that were out of your control, but he kept his mouth closed. He knew that saying that wouldn't be any help right now.

Instead, he just held her, once again, and let her cry.

~ . ~

Amy was being shook awake by a pair of firm hands. She groaned, batting them away sleepily.

"Go away, Danica. I'll clean the house when I get up." She grumbled.

"Amy," said a voice that was not Danica's girly voice, but a more masculine voice. She peered up at the person through her lids, and saw Damon looking down at her in the dimly lit room. It was very early, as the sun had yet to rise fully into the sky. Amy saw him, and once again, the image of him brought memories of what had happened the previous night, flooding back.

"Oh, no." she groaned, rolling away from him. "Just leave me alone."

"Sorry, sweetheart. No can do. You need to get up and get ready for school."

"Huh?"

"You'll be going with Elena to school today."

Amy rolled over to squint up at him.

"Is that a joke?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope." Damon patted her leg. "Come on. Be downstairs in fifteen minutes."

"No way. I'm staying home today."

"Amy-"

"No, Damon. I mean it. I need to, okay." She opened her eyes all the way and sat up a little. "Just give me a day? Please?"

Damon regarded her as he held an inner battle with himself.

"Alright. Fine." He said after a moment. "But you're going tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow is Friday. Why don't I just start next week? That way I can meet Elena's friends over the weekend so things won't be so awkward for me." She pleaded, praying he would agree.

"Just so you know, you can't manipulate me. I am the master of manipulation."

"I'm not trying to manipulate you!" Amy said quickly. Besides, she wasn't confident enough in her ability to manipulate people to try it on Damon. "I really just need a few days to settle in. If this is how things are going to be, and there is absolutely no way I can change it, then I just need a few days to be able to settle into it."

"Fair enough." Damon replied. "Alright, go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up. Just come find me downstairs."

"Thank you." Amy said sincerely, laying back down in bed. Damon turned away and left the room, closing the door behind her. She smiled to herself as she closed her eyes and fell back into a deep sleep.


End file.
